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Never the less, it's far from a blind tasting. I wasn't particularly commenting on the specific ratio of awards between the leaders (Curley / Young / Melt / Rococo etc.), and I'm not necessarily implying they weren't trying to be good -- influence can be entirely uncynical/unmeditated and even quite subconscious. Also, what various artisans are trying to do artistically is bound to take their definition of "good [chocolate ]" in particular, rarefied directions... re. Melt, although they're not members, Damian Allsop is (and he was on the panel) and it sounds like Melt are still producing the same sort of chocolates. The new "atelier" is such a recent thing, could judging samples have actually come from there?

The wall with the vertical panels and mirrors puts me in mind of fitted bedrooms. (lot 37, vintage MDF and laminate, circa 1988, wardrobe doors (3) and matching mirrors (2). £12500 set)

hmm. hardly what you'd call a blind tasting, given who's on the panel! some seemingly anomalous results there too -- e.g. hotel du chocolat's appearance (how graciously unsnobbish) and G&B's milk chocolate rated level with l'artisan's tonka bean bar what do you make of the absence of any of the l'artisan coutures from even the bronze section of the 'best filled chocolate' list? (other than that "the panel didn't give them enough votes" obviously...)

it's got an interesting section of photographs and information about some of the less commonplace ingredients (wild herbs/botanical sources) that he uses too, and lists suppliers. I'd guess only about a third of the dishes are illustrated, but that's hardly atypical. and the text does keep changing colour. it's all good.

that's interesting. the conversation I mentioned was before July I think, but I don't remember noticing any dramatic change in the chocolates since then... will his new business by any chance involve selling chocolates, which I might get to eat?

the water based ganaches are great, they make the chocolates taste so clean and health-giving does your recipe involve the use of MG-ish ingredients to hold the ganache together? the bloke at Melt (Damian Allsop) mentioned some interesting kit and ingredients he uses (unfortunately it was some time ago and I don't remember exactly what, but I'm thinking pacojets and alginates and things like these) I think Melt is brilliant, imho their best can eclipse my benchmark favourites, the artisan du chocolate coutures. his bon bons are stunning, they hit you with an amazing belt of rich, buttery fruit (mango, passion fruit, raspberry etc.) then other flavours arrive in willy-wonka style some time later, like ground coffee beans or mint leaves embedded in the chocolate.

reason for going to LL is all the starters though, isn't it? freshly stuffed pasta is lots of effort, and imagine how long it takes giorgio to de-pod and individually peel all those broad beans. then there's being able to have freshly shaved white truffle without spending a ton on a lump of it...

They are remarkably good, it's true (especially the lemon and raspberry ones), but for the record I must say the best I've had -- or at least, the most indulgent -- came (iirc) from Melt. Massive ones made with chocolate, of course, and fresh ginger, extremely dark in the middle and you couldn't tell where the ganache-like (but not over-rich) filling ended and its casing began... wonderful. There weren't any there last time I went though, perhaps a one off?

I was going to say 'tell that to Mr Blumethal' (or something equally idiotic) but thinking about the menu at the FD it seems he'd be in agreement

could any of the restaurants people have (kindly!) listed here be called 'innovative', rather than 'traditional japanese cuisine well executed'? is there a 'modern japanese' idiom that means anything?

I had lunch there the other day, admittedly not a very thorough test of their menu. The quality and presentation were good, but I must admit I was expecting something a little more out of the ordinary given price/reputation, which is what prompted the question really. Yumi sounds highly authentic - the sort of place for turning ignorant innovation tarts like me into lovers of traditional Japanese cuisine...? 150 a head though, I hope the sake was more than a fiver

Has anyone else here been recently? I had dinner at maze the other day, and found it rather disappointing. Of the (many) dishes retained on the menu, none had improved with their minor changes/tweaks (e.g. the beetroot dish seemed overly vinegary, the frisee with truffle mayonnaise was badly over-salted, the cauliflower flavour in the scallops dish seemed diminshed). One of the newer innovations, a sort of BLT trifle, was pretty dreadful; smoked bacon infused cream (an easy but very successful trick in itself) was accompanied by tomato jelly and a striking, verdant green puree of lettuce. However, this superficially plausible combination simply did not work. The lettuce puree looked the part, but was very under-flavoured (which is a shame given the wonderful flavour potential of lettuce, braised for example), and the cold and rather unpleasant tomato jelly was not a welcome addition, being somewhat acidic but failing to reduce the overall sickly nature of the dish. In general, the food seemed rather too rich (this may have been down to injudicious menu choices, but two of us each selected a different 4-5 tasting starter/mains, and both found the meal too rich and over-facing, so I suspect a heavy hand with the cream, butter, oil etc.). This was not helped by one dish that combined an overly-substantial (for a tasting menu) serving of roasted salmon with slow cooked pork belly and a merely token quantity of vegetables. This said, the pork belly was excellent, as was the brill in a quite appealing subsequent dish with cockles. Petit fours deserve special mention for excellence: a wonderful, quivering, melting turkish delight with a quite exquisite flavour, the aforementioned lollipop comprising meringue blowtorched over pineapple ice-cream, and an ever-reliable artisan du chocolat couture collection ganache.

Any views on this? I'm thinking of the more ambitious Japanese restaraunts rather than local sushi bars, e.g. Umu, Zuma, Roka etc. (I appreciate that these have differing cuisine emphases).

I thought the high class chip shops were the ones that offered vinegar. Low class chip shops have non-brewed condiment coloured with E150. I think it's a matter of the type of chips really. Chip shop chips require vinegar and lots of salt, which must both be applied prior to wrapping. Vinegar on any other type of chip, french fry or other sort of fried potato is quite unacceptable, and is responsible for making pubs smell of vinegar at lunchtimes.

Sadly not, I've noticed there seems to be to be a gap in the market for a good artisan bakery in cambridge -- though I'd be delighted to be set straight if I'm wrong. I generally get nice wheatflour bread from london, and eat rye bread the rest of the time (or supermarket own-brand english muffins, for which I've an indefensible penchant). Some of the loaves they sell at limoncello on mill road aren't bad, but they're not as fresh as direct from a bakery, so better for toasting etc. I don't recall if Le Gros Franck sell any bread (hills rd)? Or perhaps the Urban Farm Shop (norfolk st.)?

Well, La Toque turns out to be a very pleasant neigbourhood restaurant. Unfortunately it was a short set menu for Mother's Day, so I didn't see the a la carte, and the options were doubtless safer than usual. The cooking, although unadventurous, generally seemed pretty accomplished. A starter of spanish onion soup with chorizo was a sound enough combination which suffered from an excess of sweet pureed onion; a main of salmon with risotto was well executed, with subtle saucing but sufficient citrus sharpness to take care of the salmon's oiliness, though the portion size was excessive. The desserts were of a particularly high standard. The bakewell tart with cinnamon ice-cream is a good example of a very simple dish elevated by technique, in this case a tart which, rather than being stodgy and overly sweet/moist/gooey was instead a much more disciplined, rich, biscuity affair with crisp, very short pastry and an accompanying puddle of Nutella-ish sauce under the ice-cream which re-introduced the necessary comfort level nicely. Service was friendly and informal, decor was dark, modern and inoffensive (see website), and the bill was undemanding (under 20ukp for 3 courses I think).

I quite agree about the "literacy" of cooking (indeed, the parallels between gastronomy and literature are considerable), but I can't understand this comment - of course the food has its basis in gastronomic culture, both recent and classical. It is impossible for a seriously-intentioned chef to construct a menu without countless interweaved influences from "the tradition", it is a matter of the degree of agonistic challenge and reinvention that the contemporary chef brings to bear upon the canon. The degree at Juniper is significant, and its success may be compromised by inelegance or lack of judiciousness - indeed, you may believe the consequence to be a complete "artistic" (culinary) failure. However, my experience of the cooking convinced me that it's not just a case of a menu that "thinks it has" a basis in gastronomic culture, but a technique applied in the preparation of the food that reveals this to be a sham. It's divergent and not always successful, but it seems to me that its basis in gastronomic culture is indisputable.

am giving this place a go for lunch on Sunday, will post how I get on, any recommendations? entropy sounds promising (in spirit if not in name) too, if I can actually get a w/e booking. 'Eat Death

US protesters claim they've managed to bring about closures of branches of this delightful chain: www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com The animal welfare statement on KFC's own website is good for a laugh, reminiscent of the 'Yes Minister' civil service: "KFC has developed and is implementing a plan of action to evaluate the current state of technology and conduct research into best practices" "KFC's guidelines call for transport crates to be in good repair... enough space should be provided to allow all birds to lie down". "KFC's policy prohibits suppliers from using antibiotics to promote the growth of healthy chickens where such antibiotics are significant to human health"

really nice website, such a novelty for a pub to have a site that is encouraging rather than offputting! the photographs are great, atmospheric yet authentic, the whole skillfully avoids looking like the product of some annoying agency. the menu sounds spot on. good luck with your brave leap to the receiving end of criticism. I do hope your cask ales selection will take a more eclectic focus on small brewers over time (not that I'm exactly a regular through westow, so what does my six penneth matter? )

cheers, perhaps we'll piss off there then it certainly gets better london eating reviews than ottolenghi. the latter was recommended on eG ages ago but I never got round to going, thought the bread at least should be reliable. I guess for the kind of food I'd really like a booking might be unavoidable. has anyone experience of turning up unanounced at st john bread and wine on a saturday night (e.g. the penultimate one before christmas..) and getting a table within a reasonable time?

I’ve got a smallish group (5-8) to find some fine food for on Saturday – late lunch or early dinner – and thought the best bet this late in the day might be somewhere with a no-bookings policy (and hopefully only a half-hour-ish wait for a table). Does anyone have any such places they rate highly? I’d prefer to avoid a majorly ethnic slant to the menu. Price isn’t a major object. Thought Islington Ottolenghi might be good option for a late lunch, their no bookings policy running out at 4pm. I didn’t rate the Anchor and Hope too highly, and Saturdays are probably a nightmare there anyway. Perhaps St John Bread and Wine (which admittedly takes bookings) has a suitable 5pm lull? other ideas...?

Ah, that looks familiar, this is the starter I had a couple of months ago. I remember rather liking the striking crossing of the sauces on the plate rim. I must admit that I didn't find it an entirely successful course. As you can see from the photograph, the scallop-to-accompaniment ratio is pretty high (particularly as the accompaniments are fairly insubstantial), and the scallops with which I was served were enormous. They may have been warm in the middle when they arrived, but by the time I'd got through the first huge scallop and was tackling the second I don't think it was any more, because I remember cutting around the middle and leaving it. I don't think I'd have minded if the scallops had been sliced in half - to increase the ratio of caramelised surface to sticky inner - or if they had been more comprehensively accompanied, but with their size and the paucity of other substance on the plate, what starts as a quite pleasing dish risks turning into an overfacing trial-by-scallop. With a single scallop (for me, preferably smaller or sliced in two) as a tasting menu course it would have been far more successful. The jelly cubes did indeed taste of apple juice, although I would have preferred a more powerful fat-duck-esque flavour 'hit' from them. The combination of various fresh and cooked forms of the ingredient (fresh julienned apple, 'cooked' apple juice reduction and then the jelly) is always a pleasing technique.

yes but no very recent reports I'm afraid

Isn't hot jelly a Ferran Adria trick? Just wondered if there was a CC/MG influence...